Artificial Stupidity

Copyright 2019, InterAmerica, Inc.

I’m not going to get into an academic brouhaha, but let me say that when someone writes that quantum computing is a science fictional idea, I’m incensed by the stupidity of that thinking.

I can recommend two books, off the top of my head (shelf, actually) – Quantum Enigma by Professor of Physics, Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner, Lecturer in Physics, both at the University of California [Oxford University Press, 2011] and Thinking Machines: The Quest for Artificial Intelligence and Where It’s Taking Us Next by Technology Journalist Luke Dormehl [TarcherPerigree, Penguin Random House, 2017]

Pages 122/123 for Quantum Enigma and Page 165 of Thinking Machines which has this:

“Aristotle dreamed of a machine that could be creative. In Politics, written around 350 BC, he described his wish for an instrument which could play itself, because this would mean the end of slavery, since slaves were needed to carry out the task of providing music.”

The dream of AI has been around a long time and quantum computing is upon us; from Quantum Enigma:

“ Encouragingly … quantum states [that] can tolerate [the usual problem with quantum  entanglements .. .have recently been developed.  IBM, taking quantum computing seriously, has recently assembled a large research group to begin a five-year project.”

To deny the inevitability of quantum computers and computing is Artificial Stupidity.

RR

Ufology has to go as a sobriquet, and maybe the UFO initialism too

Copyright 2019, InterAmerica, Inc.

My pal Kevin Randle has, at kevinrandle.blogspot.com a reprieve of his broadcast interests and some detailed information about a few genuinely intriguing UFO events or sightings.

But it’s his rejoinder that he’s starting to dislike ufology that makes sense to many of us.

Ufology, as Zoam Chomsky will attest, is a pseudo-science or discipline, obviously, and a lot of things dubbed an “ology” fall into a disputed or dismissed category: astrology, graphology, numerology, parapsychology, cryptozoology, phrenology, and many more, with legitimate ologies all over the place too.

But Ufology is not one those legitimate endeavors, but you know that. And Kevin’s dislike is gaining momentum among serious UFO enthusiasts, a few here, like Don.

But what can the study of UFOs be dubbed that makes sense and has a ring of authenticity about it?

Kevin who set up a “Roswell Dream Team” right before the Roswell slide fiasco took a lot of opprobrium from UFOers, so I don’t think he’ll venture into the UFO name game again.

As for the UFO epithet, UAP doesn’t make it for me, or for a lot of others who are into the phenomenon. It doesn’t seem to be catching on even though the military likes the designation.

Moreover, where are the leaders in the UFO community? Aging Jacques Vallee is all but retired from the fray, along with Michael Swords, and try-harders like Robbie Graham or Greg Bishop aren’t getting attention from a lot of the UFO community.

I think Nick Redfern and Erika Lukes (if she gives up her Facebook digressions) would be helpful leaders inside the UFO movement, along with refusenik Paul Kimball. (He just won’t relent or rejoin the UFO community aside from being, in my view, the one topnotch UFOer of the recent past.)

Anyway, Kevin is on to something as to where UFOs and “ufology” are going.

If you have any suggestions, drop a comment here. One or two might spark a useful wave.

Here's mine"

RR